CNN’s handling of Republican debate a disgrace

The Republican Presidential nominating contest has proven to be a race to the bottom largely because of the disrespectful demagoguery of Donald Trump as well the desperate nature of Jeb Bush, Florida”s own entitled one who is behaving like the spoiled child that feels this nomination is owed to him and is taking out his anger on Trump, the man he blames for stealing his inheritance.

However for me, CNN was more reckless in this debate than the GOP candidates themselves, save Chris Christie’s imperial hubris, Carly Fiorina’s mindless “ideas” and the maniacal anger every candidate had toward President Obama, who following the GOP logic is a foreign agent sent by the “third world” (a non-PC term in today’s society) to undermine American values and strength.

CNN’s sole aim with this debate was to continue to drive its own ratings by fear mongering about terrorism. Never in this debate was a question asked about the other now countless episodes of gun violence that have happened in this country since the last debate the network hosted with GOP candidates. At no time was the focus placed on domestic issues that should matter to everyday, average Americans. The entire debate was focused on a small segment of foreign and domestic policy, where the GOP Presidential candidates are for the most far from the global consensus on how to deal with these issues. No serious discussion was had on the Climate Change agreement that came from the Paris talks, something that has been dominating global headlines outside the United States the last few days. Nor was any discussion had about the relationship between the United States and the nations of the Pacific Rim.

The first cable news channel which is now beamed to homes and business throughout the globe (I am currently abroad yet was able to watch every bit and piece of the debate and subsequent analysis) has become little more than a sensationalist media outlet that beams loud music for “breaking news” (even though most of the time it isn’t breaking) and seeks to talk to death any type of terrorist threat or war potential, unless of course an airliner goes missing which trumps all on the network.

Since Time Warner bought the network from Ted Turner, a gradual drift from hard news to sensationalist presentation that seeks to create headlines as much as report them has taken hold at CNN. Tuesday night’s debate just completed that process.

As for the debate itself I disagreed with almost everything said by the GOP candidates with a few notable exceptions from Ted Cruz and Rand Paul. I’ll share one item where I believe Cruz was SPOT ON during the debate:

My view is that Senator Cruz was 100 percent correct regarding the Obama Administration’s actions in Libya (which was backed by Congressional GOPers whoo failed to enforce the War Powers Act) and the non-support for Hosni Mubarak in Egypt being BIG mistakes in American foreign policy. President Obama’s decision not to make a decisive break with the neoconservative foreign policy, instead mimicking the Democratic foreign policy fear during the Cold War and post 9/11 of fearing to appear weak on communism or terrorism drove some very poor decision making.

The United States had NO BUSINESS getting involved in Libya. Our NATO allies in western Europe decided to oust the Gaddafi regime, but the US really should not have gotten involved in that conflict. Obama’s foreign policy in that region continued the naive, idealistic notion of “nation building” and “spreading democracy” that was originally cloaked in Wilsonian terms by the Cheney/Rumsfeld/Wolfowitz neocons of the George W. Bush Presidency. Pragmatism and practical reality should have dictated that the US sided with keeping secular dictators such as Gaddafi, Mubarak, Saddam Hussien and now Bashar al-Assad in power rather than allowing Islamists to obtain control of nation-states or large swaths of territory. This is a bipartisan failure and one that would be compounded by the rhetoric of every current major party Presidential candidate save Bernie Sanders, Cruz and Paul.

Personally, I am open to a more realistic foreign policy regardless of whether it comes from Democrats or Republicans. It’s a deadly serious time we are living in, not something simply for Democrats and Republicans to point fingers at one another about things. Unfortunately, CNN makes matters worse by pushing a narrative and discussion points that spread fear and provoke reactionary outbursts from politicians hoping to take advantage of an electorate that has been driven to panic.

Crybabies, all of you. CNN advertised the debate as foreign policy. That was the deal. To discuss domestic issues would have been outside the debate parameters and pretty stupid since Paris and San Bernardino.